


Hedging Bets

by Flantastic



Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Short One Shot, Sickfic, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25148710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flantastic/pseuds/Flantastic
Summary: Q is being stubborn so his number two, R, calls in the cavalry.
Relationships: James Bond/Q
Comments: 14
Kudos: 181
Collections: 007 Fest Fancreations





	Hedging Bets

**Author's Note:**

> Headcanon - Q might be the smartest man in the room but his number two Vanessa Collins is the smartest woman.

There were some who believed that when the previous Q, Major Boothroyd, retired Vanessa Collins should have taken over the role.

Vanessa Collins did not share that view.

She’d held the role of Q Branch’s second-in-command, and had been known as ‘R’, for the best part of thirty years and she loved it. She had all the excitement of being involved with projects at the highest level but none of the ultimate responsibility. She left that to the various Qs that she’d worked under. She hadn’t even minded when the latest one had turned out to be a young man who looked young enough to be her grandson. She judged people by their actions and the present Q soon proved that he was more than man enough for the job.

The one thing, however, that she didn’t like about him was his stubbornness.

~00Q~

James Bond wandered into Q Branch. He was supposed to be helping Q work on the next generation of palm-reading technology that afternoon. He’d been surprised to receive the email that morning. He and Q… well, they tended not to fraternise at work too much if James was honest. They had at first but then James had rather screwed things up by screwing Q. It had been a bit of fun (or two bits of fun to be precise) but after being seduced Q had rather backed off. James couldn’t say that he’d been totally happy with how things had turned out but he supposed it was all for the best. Double-ohs didn’t make the best partners.

He’d taken no more than a couple of steps before he was stopped in his tracks by R.

“There you are Bond. Can we talk?”

James shrugged as he glanced at his watch.

“Of course, but I have an appointment with the Quartermaster in two minutes.”

“No, you don’t.” R replied, leading him into her office.

“I’m sorry?” James queried as she shut the door behind him.

“The email came from me. I wanted to get you down here without arousing any suspicion.”

“By forging an email from a department head?” James said dryly.

R flapped her hand and made a dismissive noise.

“I didn’t ‘forge’ it. I just might have intimated that it came from his desk...” James raised an eyebrow at that. “Alright, yes. I did forge it but as Q’s the only person in this department who has the authority to sequester double-ohs into assisting with tasks and I couldn’t think of another way to get you down here.”

“So, what do you need me for, exactly?” James asked.

“Q’s sick.” Was her reply.

“So? Shouldn’t he be in Medical?”

“He should and the stubborn arse is refusing to go. It’s been three days now and he’s steadily getting worse. Look Bond, I know you two get along. I was hoping you might be able to use your friendship to convince him to get looked over at least.”

James mulled it over. Friendship. That was a funny way to describe colleagues who’d fucked a couple of times.

“Please Bond.” R begged. “I’m worried about him and I don’t know what else I can do.”

James rolled his eyes, feeling uncannily like he was being asked to babysit.

“Fine. I’ll have a chat with him. See if I can convince him to get himself looked over.”

R seemed to sag with relief at that.

“Thank you, Commander. Thank you so much for your help.”

James waved his hand at that. It wasn’t as if he thought he could do much to convince Q. His stubbornness was legendary. He went back out into the main workshop to Q’s office. The door was shut and the security protocols were in place, blanking out the windows. He rapped on the door smartly and turned the handle. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realised it was unlocked.

He pushed inside and for a split-second he saw Q sitting with his elbows on his workbench, his face in his hands. His glasses were pushed up onto the top of his head. The moment the door opened though he straightened up, and put his glasses back on as if nothing had happened. He smiled.

“Bond! To what do I owe this honour?”

James frowned as he walked into the room and firmly closed the door behind him.

“I was just wondering how my exploding pen was coming along.”

“Very funny.” Q replied, straightening himself again on his stool. It was the slightest of movements but he was moving stiffly. He managed to conceal it quite well but not quite well enough for James not to notice.

“What’s the matter?” James asked, not bothering to beat around the bush.

“What do you mean?” Q asked as started typing on the laptop in front of him.

“You’re sitting there looking like you’ve shat yourself.” James relied bluntly.

Q chuckled at that.

“Charming.” He said.

“So?” James asked after a moment of silence. “What have you done?”

Q’s mouth set into a hard line.

“What I may or may not have done to my back is of no concern of yours, Bond.” Q said waspishly. “Now if that is all…”

“No.” James said flatly. “That is not all. A little birdie told me you weren’t feeling well…”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Q grumbled, “was it bloody R again? She’s done nothing but nag at me for the last two days…”

“She’s worried about you.” James said. He walked over the Q. “So now I’m worried about you.”

“I’ll be fine.” Q said, turning back to the laptop. He looked at it for a moment and then blinked a couple of times, as if clearing his head, before standing up and walking slowly over to the kettle which stood on one of the side benches. James watched him silently. Q had a way of moving usually that was very economical, very precise, almost like he was slightly dyspraxic and afraid of knocking something over with his clumsiness, but this was different. He’d mentioned a bad back but if James wasn’t mistaken, Q was in a lot more pain than he was letting on. He reached out and lightly gripped Q’s wrist as he tried to pass him. He flinched and hissed as he was stopped. James frowned as he realised how warm Q’s skin felt. Without giving him a chance to pull away, James drew him into a hug and placed a gentle hand on Q’s forehead. He was burning up.

“Q.” James said softly, reproachfully.

He might have expected Q to try to pull away but instead he slumped.

“Please James.” He whispered. “I’m so busy. I’ve got three agents due to go out into the field this week and two of them require specialist equipment. The annual budget reviews are due at the end of the month and my best programmer has just gone on maternity leave…”

James shut him up with a tender little kiss to the side of his mouth, shocking him into silence.

“There’s only one of you.” He said gently. “You wouldn’t run a piece of equipment ragged. Why are you doing this to yourself?”

Q shook his head and tried to push away from James. James let him go.

“I’m OK.” He said stubbornly, despite the fact every drop of colour seemed to have just drained from his cheeks. “I’ll be fine.”

His head dropped and if James wasn’t very mistaken, he was barely able to keep standing.

“Give me a moment.” He whispered to himself. “Just give me a moment. I’ll be OK.”

“For fuck’s sake Q.” James said, softly. He put an arm around him and gently guided him towards the sofa in the corner of the room. “Come on…” He helped Q to sit down and then to lie on it. He went far more willingly than James expected him to which worried him greatly. He shrugged off his jacket and folded it before placing it under Q’s head before stroking his hair back off his face. “Oh sweetheart. Why can’t you take better care of yourself?”

Q frowned and licked his lips.

“’m not very good at doing what’s best for me.” He said quietly. He closed his eyes. “I fucked up…I do it all the time...” He trailed off looking pained.

“What did you fuck up?” James asked.

“I should have told you… I didn’t tell you… how much those nights we spent together meant to me… I thought… I thought that maybe you didn’t want me like that…”

James smiled and when Q’s hand groped for him, he took it.

“Ditto. I thought I was too old for you… too broken… Maybe both of us are a bit rubbish at doing things that are good for us.” He said. “What say we get you to Medical and once they’ve checked you over, I’ll give you a lift home? We could discuss where it all went wrong. Maybe I could stay with you for a little while, take care of you until you feel a bit better?”

Q looked up at him and smiled, looking so hopeful James couldn’t help but smile back.

“You’d do that for me? You’d stay?”

“I would and I will.” James replied as he took out his phone to call Medical.

~00Q~

R watched with the rest of the Q-Branch staff as Doctor Conroy left Q’s office. One of her staff followed, pushing Q on a gurney, and they were followed in turn by Bond. As he passed her, he reached out and briefly squeezed her hand.

“Thank you, Vanessa.” He said quietly. “Conroy thinks he’s got a kidney infection. She’s going to look him over and then hopefully I’ll be able to take him home later. I’ll look after him for you.”

He hurried off to catch the others up. Once they were gone, Una Morris turned to her.

“You crafty cow.”

R tried to look innocent.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yeah…” Una drawled. “NO idea, right? So, tell me again, what date did you have for them two moving in together in the office sweepstake?”

“Oh, that silly thing. It was so long ago; I really can’t remember…”

“Bollocks.” Una said. “Well if you need reminding, you were down for the week beginning the thirteenth of July.”

“Was I really?” R marveled. “Well I never, that’s just next week…”

“If you _had_ remembered,” Una continued, “I might have accused you of being mercenary enough to use Q’s illness to manipulate those two lovestruck idiots into actually talking about their feelings for a change. It’s almost as if you think Doctor Conroy couldn’t have come down here and physically dragged Q up to her department herself. You know. Like she did last year when he broke his hand.”

R chuckled and patted Una’s arm.

“There’s no harm in hedging one’s bets my dear.” She winked at her as she passed her to go back to work.


End file.
